P-cadherin expression in breast cancer: a review

Joana Paredes¹^,2 , Ana Luísa Correia¹ , Ana Sofia Ribeiro² , André Albergaria¹^,2 , Fernanda Milanezi¹^,2 and Fernando C Schmitt¹^,2^,3

¹Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Health Sciences, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal

²Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology of the University of Porto (IPATIMUP), Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, s/n, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal

³Medical Faculty of the University of Porto, Alameda Prof. Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal

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Breast Cancer Research 2007, 9:214doi:10.1186/bcr1774


Published:	31 October 2007

Abstract

P-cadherin is frequently over-expressed in high-grade invasive breast carcinomas and has been reported to be an enhancer of migration and invasion of breast cancer cells, being correlated with tumour aggressiveness. In addition, expression of P-cadherin is well established as an indicator of poor prognosis in human breast cancer, which has stimulated our interest in studying its role in this setting. This review describes the most important findings on P-cadherin expression and function in normal mammary tissue and breast cancer cells, emphasizing that further research is required to elucidate the role played by this protein in human mammary tumours.